NEW YORK — Donald Trump stormed out of court during closing arguments in the E. Jean Carroll damages trial Friday just before the jury began their deliberations.
“The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said as Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, gave her final remarks.
“Ms. Carroll did not make it up, the sexual assault happened and his denials were all complete lies,” the lawyer said.
Carroll’s lawyer added that Trump “thinks with his wealth and power he can treat Ms. Carroll how he wants and will suffer no consequences.”
The jury began deliberations at 1:40 p.m. ET, and Trump departed the courthouse around 4 p.m., while they were still deliberating.
The trial is just one of many for Trump, who is also facing verdicts in his New York case fraud case as well as an appellate decision on his claims that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution over Jan. 6.
Alina Habba said Trump was telling “the truth” when he denied her allegations — a claim the judge ordered stricken from the record because the former president had already been found liable for sexually abusing Carroll.
“President Trump should not have to pay for their threats. He does not condone them. All he did was tell his truth,” Habba said.
“His truth was a lie and he has no right to say it,” she continued. “That may be how Donald Trump lives his life but that’s not how it works under the law.”
Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in compensatory damages for “injury to her reputation, humiliation and mental anguish in her public and private life,” as well as to an unspecified amount in punitive damages to “punish Trump for acting maliciously and to deter Trump and others.
